Ben McKenzie plays a wealthy young man on a personal quest for justice in TNT’s hit series “Southland.” Now the actor heads to the streets of Gotham City as the voice of another rich young adult with a need for righteousness in Batman: Year One, the next entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies.

McKenzie makes his maiden voyage into animation voiceovers as Bruce Wayne/Batman, the title character of comics legend Frank Miller’s classic retelling of the Dark Knight’s gritty, formative days.

Produced by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, the all-new, PG-13 rated Batman: Year One arrives October 18 from Warner Home Video as a Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD, On Demand and for Download. Batman: Year One will also be available in a special download-for-purchase early window starting October 11 through iTunes, Xbox Live, Zune, VUDU HD Movies and Video Unlimited on the PlayStation Network & Sony Entertainment Network.

McKenzie rose to fame staring in 92 episodes of “The O.C.”

Following his initial recording session for Batman: Year One, McKenzie took some time to discuss the film, the character, Adam West and his dog’s linguistic skills.

QUESTION: What was your initial reaction to being offered the role of Batman?

BEN MCKENZIE: When I got the offer for Batman: Year One, I was very excited because I really like this particular take on Batman. It’s a darker take – a Frank Miller take – on the origin story. And I think it’s fun to play the character in a way that it is more reminiscent of his being a real vigilante. He’s a tough, tortured soul who is exacting revenge upon a criminal element that took something very important away from him. As an actor, this role gives you a little bit more backstory, so you have the chance to play him as a real person, albeit a person who is a little bit mentally unstable, perhaps, but heroic nonetheless. It’s exciting to get to play a character who is so specifically intense and unusual.

QUESTION: And how many times in the last weeks since you’ve known you got the role have you said to anyone, “I’m Batman”?

BM: (laugh) I usually wake up in the morning, go to the mirror and say, “I’m Batman.” I’ll say it to my dog, and he gives a very confused look, which he always does because he doesn’t speak English. I’ve tried to use the “I’m Batman” line on everyone from the valet to the guy washing my car. You know, anyone who will listen. No one seems to pay any attention. But I know. (laughs)

QUESTION: Did you do any research or prep work going into the recording session?

BM: I did actually read the comic again, and it was exactly how I remembered it. Really cool and kind of dark and gritty and very bold in how it approached the source material, which has been carved out into such a revered piece of comic book fiction. It is impressive that someone would do a new take on the story, summoning the courage to just throw away a lot of that traditional stuff and really focus on some of the darker elements, which is what Frank Miller did. I think it’s great. It’s cool, it’s bold, and I think the film lives up to that.

QUESTION: Is this was your first animated voiceover project, what were you expecting and how did find the experience?

BM: It’s always fun to do something that you’re not particularly experienced in, something that’s a little bit of a new skill to learn. Regina King has done a lot of voiceover stuff for Boondocks – with Andrea (Romano) – and she loves it. So it was really nice to feel like I was in good hands and that I’d be well treated. I think any job where you can stay indoors, work a couple of hours, say a few things and get paid is a good job to have. It beats Southland, where you’re out in the streets and the heat in the wool uniforms. Nobody needs that. (laughs)

QUESTION: Were there any outside influences on your performance before working on the booth?

BM: I’d like to say I was influenced mainly by Adam West’s performance as Batman more than anyone else – but it’s not quite the same take. There’s something in the way that Frank Miller wrote the comics that lends itself to a darker gravelly-voiced kind of intensity. You can’t help but go there. So maybe it’s sort of similar to the live-action version that Christian Bale is doing, but maybe not quite as much in that direction.

QUESTION: How did your familiarity with the original Frank Miller comics help formulate your approach to the acting?

BM: This Frank Miller world is an amazing place with a wonderfully dark aesthetic – it has the kind of noir-ish world of moral ambiguity that I really respond to. And I think if you’re going to play it sincerely, you have to realize that it’s written like a piece of noir with real characters and real emotional takes. This isn’t some fantasy. Bruce Wayne is damaged, he’s emotionally scarred, and he’s trying to make sense of justice in the world. So he creates an alter ego to keep some normalcy in his daily life. That’s the way he tries to make some sense of the world. He’s battered and scarred, but that sort of makes him stronger, because he’s ultimately unafraid of putting it all on the line. He’s very human. That’s the great thing about Batman – he has no super powers. He is a flawed man.

QUESTION: How did you differentiate the voice or the attitude for Batman versus Bruce Wayne?

BM: We worked on distinguishing between Bruce, who is an introvert perhaps, but is forced through his position in society to be affable to a certain degree, and then Batman himself, who is really sort of the devil within. He can really take on a whole another vocal inflection and demeanor. So we sort of wanted to play with that and make Bruce almost overcompensate in order to hide his identity, to be even more affable and agreeable than he would otherwise in order to hide the fact that he is Batman.

It’s hard to do because when you’re going through the script in the sessions, you’ll just jump back and forth. One page, you’ll be doing Bruce Wayne, and the next page, you’ll be doing Batman. So it is hard to kind of keep them separate in your mind. It requires a few takes to sort of relax into it and to switch it up. I’m sure tonight I’ll be dreaming of being Batman. (laughs)

QUESTION: Was there a focal point for you to stay on target throughout the recording session?

BM: I think the acting is really just trying to imagine being 12 again and seeing Batman in this animated form and thinking “What would you like to see? What would you really geek out on?” If you can bring that passion across on the screen, then that’s your job. I think if you were going to do anything acting-wise that got any methody, you’d be a little scary. I think it’s better to just try and have fun with it.

QUESTION: Do you have a favorite line or scene?

BM: There’s a fun scene with one of the young thuggish guys where (Batman) says something like “I know pain. Sometimes I like to share it, maybe with somebody like you.” I like that moment. The adrenaline and the testosterone really flows through you. It’s fun. It’s really fun. If you were ever picked on in high school and you just wanted to grab the bully and say, “I’m gonna beat the living heck out of you,” that’s exactly what you get to do as Batman.

QUESTION: Did this experience give you a new perspective on Batman?

BM: Yes, absolutely. This experience has definitely reinvigorated my interest again for Batman. I’ve seen the Christopher Nolan films, and I think they’re great. When you get a chance to actually be a part of something based on the same source material, it’s really exciting. It allows you to sort of experience what that character is experiencing, which is a darkly fun take on what it would be like if you could actually fight crime, if you could actually get revenge on all of the people that you think are bad people in this world, if you could exact justice out of an unjust world. It’s kind of thrilling even to be an actor playing that part.

QUESTION: Do you see any parallels to your character on Southland?

BM: I think there is sort of a broad parallel between Bruce Wayne/Batman and my character on Southland in the sense that they’re both wealthy and they’re both fighting crime – in the broadest sense. Bruce Wayne and, really, Batman is just the extreme version. Instead of becoming a patrol officer, he spends his money creating an alter ego and going out and doing it himself. So Bruce Wayne/Batman is just the fantastical version of what Ben Sherman is doing on Southland. He’s just doing it to a more extreme level. So, yeah, there’s definitely a comparison to be made for sure.

These days there are dozens of crime dramas out there, ranging from “CSI “to “NCIS “to “Law and Order”. Not to mention that all three of those franchises have multiple spin-offs going. In the ensuing shroud of gunfire, suspect chases, blood spatter, and interrogations, they all tend to blend together into one giant show. Flip from “CSI: NY “to “NCIS: Los Angeles “and you might not notice a difference until you recognize the change in location. With such a high saturation of these types of television shows, one would think that there’s no room for “Southland”. But this series continues to break from the mold that so many of the others continue to employ.

Last night’s episode of “Southland”, titled “Punching Water,” was a strong follow up to its season premiere last week. As the characters continue to deal with their own problems that were established or revisited in the season opener, episode two introduces a few more. The most important (and unfortunate) of these additions is the return of loud-mouth Dewey. He’s back from rehabbing his alcohol addiction, but being cured hasn’t made him any more bearable. The chief partners Dewey up with John in the hopes that he can straighten him out. Meanwhile, a rash of gang-related shootings puts a serious damper on Martin Luther King Day. When the bodies start piling up, Detective Salinger rallies the troops and sends the entire force out on a mission to crack down on the shootings and find those responsible. The closing minutes of this episode deliver a twist concerning Sammy, but I’ll leave that for you to find out. All I’ll say is that I hope it’s a good enough reason to say goodbye to Tammi – I’m not a big fan of hers.

“Punching Water” was a really great second episode and another example of why “Southland” is different than cop shows past and present. First of all, there is a heavy use of strong language, a good portion of which is bleeped out by the sensors. Some may say that it’s a cheap ploy, but I honestly think that the colorful words add to the realism and keep you more in the moment. The actors and creators of “Southland” have always talked about striving for the truest depiction of what LA law enforcement must go through, and I think including the foul language is part of that. Don’t tell me that real LA cops yell “crap!” during a chase or call suspects “jerks.” When we get emotional or excited, most of us swear or drop an f-bomb. So do the cops on “Southland.”

Another thing that I’ve noticed about “Southland” is their mixture of humor and action. I love how an episode can change from amusing to dramatic in the blink of an eye. One minute, you’re laughing along with a group of cops joking around with one another over lunch, and the next minute you’re in the heat of a car chase. This sharp transition also keeps the audience on their toes – at times I want to laugh but I’m afraid that the moment I let my guard down to do so, somebody is going to get a bullet in the head. And that makes for some edge-of-your-seat viewing.

Bottom line: Episode 2 of “Southland’s” third season is another action-packed and dramatic outing that showcases how the series differs from the rest of the pack. The show isn’t perfect, but it shows a lot of promise and could, with time, end up being one of television’s best cop shows.

Two reality premieres tonight on MTV. “The Hills” is on at 10, and “The City” premieres at 10:30.

“Southland” was marked for death on network television, but it found a new life and a new audience on cable. Now TNT has announced it will renew the cop drama for a third season, with 10 episodes to start airing in January. TNT got the series for a bargain after NBC dropped it quickly. About 3 million people watch it every week.

ABC will air a two-hour sixth season finale of “Grey’s Anatomy” on May 20 at 9 p.m.

History Channel’s “America: The Story of Us” premiered on Sunday, drawing 5.7 million total viewers. It was the highest-rated, most watched special in the cable network’s history, and there are five more episodes to come until the finale on Memorial day.

NBC is risking losing “The Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien to Fox following the peacock’s big scheduling foul-up, reports FOXNews.com. NBC has confirmed that they plan to pull “The Jay Leno Show” from its 10 o’clock spot and put him at 11:35, pushing Conan and Fallon into the wee hours of the morning.

But Conan’s aren’t the only feathers the peacock’s rustled recently. Fans were stunned last October when the network cancelled “Southland,” a gritty cop-drama starring Massachusetts native Tom Everett Scott. NBC claimed that the show was “too dark and gritty,” but Scott told Blast in a recent interview that “the reason why NBC let it go I don’t think anyone really knows.”

“There’s a lot going on over at NBC that doesn’t really make sense right now,” Scott said. “I’m really not sure what’s going on right now.”

NBC censored the show heavily, said Scott, which was “beautifully written” and “very engaging” but had “a lot of graphic violence” and “a whole lot of cussing and swearing that NBC was bleeping out.”

Fortunately for Southland, and for Scott, TNT picked up the show and will be airing the first 13 episodes starting Tuesday. Should the show be a success, filming may continue. The cable network will presumably create more artistic freedom for this dark cop drama.

“I think being on TNT is going to enrich the show,” said Scott. “It’s gonna make the show the fans wanna see.”

Perhaps there is a happy trade to be had for Conan as there was for Southland. Will NBC lose another valuable show so soon? Let us know what you think in the comments section.

Tonight is another big cable night. “DeGrassi: The Next Generation” wil fulfill all your melodrama fantasies on TeenNick at 8 p.m.

SyFy jumps in at 10 with the season premiere of “Sanctuary,” the Amanda Tapping post-Stargate project. DIY Network premieres “Kitchen Impossible” at 10, and we can’t forget “Dog Whisperer” at 9 p.m. on NatGeo.

The only big finale this weekend is MTV’s “Making His Band” at 9 p.m.

On Monday, you can expect premieres of “Little People, Big World,” on TLC at 8 p.m., “100 Mile Challenge” on Planet Green at 9 p.m., and “Gone Too Far” on MTV at 10.

Southland is D E D dead, even though it never was officially alive. NBC pulled the plug on the drama before its anticipated season debut on October 23. No reason has been given, and six episodes were already finished and ready to air.

Southland was going to be aired on Fridays at 9 p.m., which has been a dead zone for television lately, with Dollhouse dying there.

ABC has ordered the full seasons of “Modern Family,” “Cougar Town” and “The Middle.”

The three shows have done well in the ratings, but no news has been announced on the Kelsey Grammer comeback “Hank” or the new show “Eastwick.”

Showtime announced a new webisode about Dexter called “Dexter: Early Cuts.” The series will premiere on October 25 on sho.com.

CBS may be bringing back “Hawaii Five-O” with a plot commitment for a revival of the series, written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and CSI: New York executive producer Peter Lenkov. The original ran from 1968-1990.

Finally, Ellen Page is working with HBO to both write and produce a new comedy series called “Stich N’ Bitch” about two cool girls who move from New York to Los Angeles to try and become artists — and kind of artists. Page is working with actresses Alia Shawkat and Sean Tillmann, both of whom stared with her in “Whip It.”